


Starring Isabel Guerra As Ladybug

by aylith



Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: #isabelforladybug2k17, Gen, Miraculous Ladybug AU, i have a 34 in creative writing, its a ladybug au, my creative writing class prepared me for this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 08:19:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10693164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aylith/pseuds/aylith
Summary: Isabel always loved the smell of an Akuma attack in the morning.Or well, in this case, afternoon.Late afternoon.Whatever.





	Starring Isabel Guerra As Ladybug

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! that you for taking the time to read my fic, my first fic, i hope you enjoy :0!!
> 
> also, a note, the characters are aged up slightly to make them closer to the ages on the french show. it's not important plot-wise. theyre like 14 or 15 dw about it enjoy

Isabel always loved the smell of an Akuma attack in the morning.

Or well, in this case, afternoon.

Late afternoon.

Whatever.

The alert had happened directly after she’d been dismissed from her after-school training session, thank god, or else grandpa’d have her head for skipping. She’d excused herself to her room, before beginning her transformation sequence and slipping out her window. Training had taken place in the grass on the porch side of the dojo that day, luckily enough for her, meaning that there was nobody in sight as she snuck out and headed in the direction there had been screaming.

Flicking her wrist, Ladybug threw her yo-yo at the nearest low-hanging branch. Getting to town like this was difficult, yes, but it wasn’t as if she was helpless. Slinging through the air was exhilarating. Smiling against the wind on her face, Ladybug gave a whoop as she approached town, landing down next to a young woman with a baby carriage.  
The child cooed at the bespeckled superheroine, as the woman took a step back, surprised at the sight.

“Ladybug!” she exclaimed, before taking a step closer, taking the child in her arms. “W-west hill, midtown, it- it’s-!”

“Ma’am,” Ladybug started, “I’m going to need you to think clearly right now.” She watched as the woman held the infant to her hip, bouncing slightly and looking downward, chewing on her lower lip gently before looking back up.

“..It’s my husband you see. Tommy he, he works in the scrap yard on the west hill,” Ladybug watched as she shifted the child from one hip to the other, revealing a nametag- Rosa- pinned to her waitressing uniform. “He called me minutes ago and, and he’s safe but,”

Rosa was interrupted by a loud _BOOM_ filling the air, directed from west. Ladybug gave her a quick nod and took off running in the direction of the sound, flicking her yo-yo at a street lamp, hurdling herself up to the rooftops.

Rosa had been right, even from the great distance Ladybug was still at, she was able to make out what appeared to be a large, floating pirate ship hovering over the lakeside of Mayview’s west hill.

Isabel frowned. The distance wasn’t an issue, not while transformed, but really? Would it kill an Akuma to be close to home for once? Training sessions in the family dojo already had her nearly worn, and nightly patrols were an addition. Add in the weekly fights, and she guessed running was just a side effect of superhero life.

Superhero life that typically wasn’t done alone.

Ladybug scanned the skyline as she swooped across the halfway point the bridge over Mayview’s lake gave her. No partner in sight.

Chat Noir wasn’t one to be late, usually he was the first of the duo to arrive at the scene of action. Always greeting with some smart remark and a wink, then almost immediately flung across the street by the possessed citizen. Ladybug smiled softly to herself at the thought.

Without much more time to think on it, Isabels’ immediate attention was brought to another ear-splitting BOOM from the vessel above her, followed by laughter, seemingly coming from the ships’ bow. A boy suddenly came to sight, and Isabel recognized him, despite the garish pirate gear he seemed to be decked _(ha)_ out in.

He unsheathed a long hooksword _(how did that work?)_ from his belt, parrying it at something just out of sight. She would have to find a way up there.

Briefly, her mind turned back to the disappearance, or rather, lack-of-appearance, of her partner. As she quickly scanned the area for any sign of him, she winced while her hands flew to her ears, another piercing _BOOM_ filling the air.

Something black shot across her vision, crashing into a building a few streets down.

Ah.

There he was.

Ladybug jumped, silently thanking magic for allowing her to reach story-high levels without even doing a few practice squats first. She rushed across rooftops of shops and homes, closing the gap between herself and the dazed, rubble-covered boy who hadn’t actually been late at all.

“Care if I drop on in?” she half shouted, landing only a few feet away and jogging over.

Chat Noir perked up, yellow eyes glancing upwards as he attempted (failed) to regain his standing. Ladybug laughed and offered a hand.

After a moment of brushing dust and pebbles off his person, Chat took it. “What, Me? Nah, nah, I’m good, y’know? Got my fix of gettin smashed into buildings an all. Heck, I was actually getting comfortable almost.” Ladybug helped pull him to his feet, trying not to laugh. “Took ya long enough.” He smiled and bent down slightly for Ladybug to ruffle dirt out of his hair.

“Ooh, my bad,” she started, “traffic was just AWFUL. You wouldn’t BELIEVE how many superheroes were trying to get over here. Rooftops were a crowded mess.” She picked a pebble off his head and flicked it across the street. “Status update?” she asked.

Chat nodded, turning his gaze skyward and extending an arm to point out the already extremely noticeable pirate ship slowly soaring through Mayview’s skies.

“Got here first, so I’ll give you the gist.” He said. Ladybug gave a hum of agreement. “Cursed object seems t’be some flimsy-turned-rugged toy sword, the plastic kind they sell in stores? Yeah. Get ahold of that and we should be good.” Johnny leaned to one side, hearing a few pops come from his bones. He hated brick walls.

“He’s not a hard target on his own, honestly kinda scrawny, but he’s got some freaky powers. Homeboy calls himself _‘Friend Ship’_ , an from what I can tell? Jus’ goes around makin folks his best buds. That’s it.”

Ladybug quirked an eyebrow in confusion, “That’s _it?"_

“I mean,” Chat let his arm drop to his side, then scratched at a spot on his nose. “The ones under his control’re a bit like an army. Pirate crew, yeah?”

Isabel hummed.

_That’s thematically coherent._

Chat turned to her, grinning wide and eyes gleaming. “Oh, and get this?? He calls em his _‘First Mates’. First mates!!!_ Like buds???? _MAN_ this guy’s good.”

  
Isabel scanned the sky while her teammate continued gushing over the sheer pun usage of this specific Akuma, seemingly unaffected by the fact that he’d been blasted against a wall by what appeared to be a...

“Cannonball?” she asked, kneeling down to inspect the object further.

“Huh?” Chat turned, looking back to see where Ladybug knelt, “Oh, yeah. They aint harmful, but uh, I got a feelin that’s just for us.” He scratched at his cheek. “Like, that wall?” He gestured to the spot he’d been slammed against, “Yeah, no Bueno. That suckers pulverized.”

She stood up, “Any magical properties?” She asked. For a split second she registered Chat Noir holding his side.

But he shook his head. “None that I can tell of.”

Isabel frowned. How long had he been at the fight before she arrived? Chat Noir had a horrible, horrible habit of going at things alone. If she was honest with herself, it was annoying. If she was even more honest with herself, it was worrying.

They both had that habit, and knew it.

She walked back over, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. “Chat, you sure you didn’t get bruised up too bad back there? That thing didn’t exactly look light.”

He waved it off, making the same old statement that he was fine, no need to worry, armor in the suit blah blah magic blah.

She _knew_ there was _blah blah armor in the suit blah magic blah_. But it didn’t always stop blows from hurting.

And she was about to push, tell him just that, before he made the interjected comment that they should get to higher ground, maybe see if they could find a way back up to the ship. Isabel reluctantly agreed.

They found safety on top of one of the hills’ pieces of complicated business architecture, and as the ship came into view, both heroes readied their devices for a quick trip aboard. They jumped, soaring through the sky on their respective transport devices, and Isabel was lucky enough to see that Friend Ship was facing the direction away from them, but _waving his sword the direction towards them_. She smiled to herself, reaching a hand out to try and grab the object only a few feet away. But that’s when Isabel heard it again, much closer this time, loud and awful.

__  
**BOOM.**  


It happened on instinct.

Most his life, in fights or otherwise, protection had been Johnny’s key focus. Protect your friends, protect the ones closest to you. You look after your own, they look after you.  
Which is why, naturally, as Friend Ship blasted another shot from his aviated vessel of Destruction And Friendship™, his immediate thought went to his partner.

Or more specifically, the 5lb ball of solid iron rushing her way at, oh, roughly 100 feet per second. Nothing she couldn’t handle, of course. He did.

Except that he didn’t. Getting torso-slapped mid-air from one of those things? Yeah. That hurt bad. Although probably not as bad as the look on her face would be if/when she found out he was smoothing things over pain-wise.

But years of both protecting and being protected by your squad of ride-or-die bffs didn’t exactly care about what or what not either of them could handle, so, making maybe another later regretted split-second plan changes, Johnny acted on the protective instinct that had wormed its way into his brain since he was a kid. And changed direction mid-air.

The impact hurt less this time, possibly an effect of knowing it was coming, but that didn’t stop the momentum throwing both of them back against another one of Mayview’s stores.

They were lucky if they went a fight without destroying a building.

They’d been squashed against a wall that held a second story, with the first floors’ roof only a few feet below them. Johnny felt hands push against his back.

Ladybug shoved him off her, and attempted wedging herself out from the side of the building they’d collided against. It wasn’t the first time something like that had happened, but that didn’t mean it was comfortable. Or she liked it. Ladybug ran a hand through her bangs, giving a frustrated shrill as she joined him on the roof of the building below.

“Chat, what’s gotten _into you?_ ” Ladybug stepped forward, arms flaring out by her sides. “I _HAD_ him, I was _THIS CLOSE_ to grabbing Friend Ship’s cursed object!” It wasn’t unlike him to take blows in her place, and it was thoughtful! It was kind super great what EVER but she NEEDED to be fighting her own battles sometimes! THAT was frustrating!! They were a _team_ , that means working in _tandem_ , _together_ , and a bunch of other words that also probably started with ‘T’, she figured.

“We gotta get back out there,” he turned back to the path that Friend Ship was paving, the large flying pirate vessel floating through the air as civilians ducked for cover. Chat Noir grabbed for the vault at his belt, not wholly paying attention.

“Chat.”

“We can prolly get there quicker if we-"

_“Chat!”_

She grabbed his arm to pull him back, and their eyes locked for a moment. Stern brown eyes met impatient gold ones, and for an instant there was an argument; mutual frustration at the situation, at themselves, and at each other.

And then the moment melted.

Of course, it didn’t lessen their current surroundings. The citizens ducking for cover at the Akuma that was still terrorizing (aggressively befriending) Mayviews’ population didn’t go away. (They wished, it would’ve made their jobs way easier.)

But in a single look there was a reassurance of trust, a remembrance that they were a team, and teammates didn’t leave each other in the dirt. There wasn’t a need to rush off on your own when there was someone willing to be there for you, and that’s what Ladybug and Chat Noir were. A clumsy, rusty team who’s fighting styles were mismatched and heads butted on occasion, but a team that was there to fight _together_.

“You can’t just go running in there alone, alright?” she said, expression softening slightly. “Unless you wanna become his _‘New Best Friend’_ , just like _everybody else in Mayview._ I can take hits, Chat. Don’t go recklessly getting yourself hurt, alright?”

So as her grip lessened and a firm nod was given in response, a slow smile grew in the place of a tight-lipped look. Hand reaching for her hip, Ladybug grabbed the yo-yo and flicked it towards the nearest building.

“So, ready this time, hothead?” she grinned at her partner, eyes glinting with the rush of adrenaline that always comes with jumping off something tall. There was something awe-inspiring about that look.

Johnny took one glance down at the elevation they were standing from and immediately squeezed his eyes shut, willing the sudden vertigo to leave him. Ladybug was strong, he knew that, it wasn’t as if this was their first fight together. She was trustworthy, she was powerful, she was his partner. And they were gonna kick this Akumas _big dumb butt_. He inhaled to calm his nerves, and when he reopened his eyes, a sharp toothy smile was almost the only answer she needed.

“Y’Better believe it.”

And they were off, racing atop rooftops with woops and excited laughter as wind whipped their hair and a combination of adrenaline and pure magic gave them just the energy boost they needed.

-

Defeating Friend Ship wasn’t nearly as tiring or difficult as they were dreading, and despite his army of mind-controlled crew members, it was relatively easy to grab the plastic pirate sword they had figured to be his cursed object. And with neither a lucky charm nor cataclysm needed, the two heroes of Mayview found themselves perched atop a store in the downtown mini mall with a little extra time before detransformation than usual.

The late spring sun was lazily finding its way down to touch the treeline, as the different species of fauna started to sing and buzz and chirp their nightly symphonies. It was a gentle contrast to the heated action-filled scene that had ended only minutes ago.

A soft hum started as Chat shifted position, sitting up to face the girl lying beside him, hands behind her head watching a pack of crows fly softly in the orange sky. She looked peaceful.

“So,” he started, leaning forward to rest his chin on an arm that had been draped across his legs. “the Akuma’d kid. You know ‘im?”

It was a gentle question, he knew she was touchy about her identity, though he wasn’t really sure why. But as she turned her face to look at him, brows knit slightly, just enough regret formed in his mind to backtrack a little.

“S’just cause, uh,” he searched for the right words to use, “y’seemed a bit… softer? With him, than uh, than usual. Yeah.”

 _Great save Jhonny_ , he thought, before his inner monologue was interrupted by a groan as Ladybug sat up, joining him in posture. The two of them sat then, side by side, watching the scenery.

Ladybug gave a huff of air as she blew her bangs out of her face.

“Yeah.”

A beat.

“Gonna elaborate there, red?” a smile was mirrored on their faces, as he poked at information but didn’t pry.

She laughed soft then, more of a forceful exhale really, as she recalled the actions winding down after the fight.

_It was a long-time friend of hers, Cody Jones, who’d been the victim to the Akumas’ magic. She extended a hand to the boy, who was rubbing his head and sitting on the pavement of the street._

_“You all right, there?” she had asked, always dutiful to the citizens she had sworn to protect. It wasn’t their fault they had fallen to corruption, all she could offer was comfort. And maybe a little teasing the next day as she saw them in her civilian life. “You took a really nasty one, it seemed. Fight with a friend?”_

_The boy- Cody- blinked a few times before looking up at her and doing a double-take. Isabel felt a twang of pity, Cody was truly a kind person, and she hoped he wouldn’t beat himself up about it too hard when he realized what had taken place._

_“L-ladybug…?” he had asked, as common with most citizens post-possession. “What am I…” he trailed off, blinking hard as the headache wore off, memories of the past hour replacing it. His eyes grew wide. “Oh no, I-I didn’t! Oh God Ladybug, I’m, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me, I was just,” he tried to continue, but Isabel placed a hand on her friends’ shoulder._

_“Hey, hey, easy, easy.” She soothed, giving a warm smile that always seemed to calm nerves, she’d done it a million times. Being Ladybug, to her, was like turning on a switch._

_Isabel Guerra was never much of a comforter, she never let her guard down long enough to show signs of softness. Did she wish that she could? Of course, but it was hard. Being known as the resident Tough Girl™ meant it was a 24/7 job. Was that absolutely, mind-numbingly stupid? Totally._

_But Ladybug, **Ladybug** could be tough and not have to worry about any armor other than the kind built into her suit. When she was Ladybug, protector of Mayview, there wasn’t a need to keep up the same guise she had in her civilian life. She could allow herself to be gentle around people other than just those she was close to._

_“It happens to everyone, don’t go too hard on yourself!” she gave his shoulder a pat. “Friend issues, huh? Do you.. want to talk about it?” she asked, kneeling down beside him._

_Cody hesitated. “….I had an argument. With my best friend Jeff,” Ladybug listened patiently. “It was over something stupid, but now I’m really worried he’ll resent me for it..”_  
_Isabels’ expression softened, she knew how closely knit the two boys were, they’d been her friends (well, acquaintances until rather recently) since sixth grade. If something were to happen between them, it must have been bad._

_“No such thing as a stupid argument, I’m sure you both had your reasons behind it.” She said softly. “Care to tell me what it was about?”_

_Cody picked up the broken sword that had held his Akuma, looking miserable. “I told him I thought One Piece was better than Naruto. He’s a big fan of the ninjas, I’m more on the side of pirates.”_

_Oh._

_Of course._

_Wow._

 

Isabel brought herself back to the present with a shake of her head, although from the look Chat was giving her, that wasn’t much an answer he understood. She gave another soft laugh at his expression, the way his eyebrows knit and mouth screwed up in confusion. It was boyish, immature, maybe even a fraction of a little bit cute. In other words, very unlike his usual façade.

“He’s, uh..” she searched for ways to give her friend an answer without giving away some precious detail. They were in chemistry together? No, that was dumb, there were about 18 kids in her chemistry class, and with Cody included, that’s a pool of 17 people who could be chosen from. So no, chemistry was not a good idea. ‘Think bigger, Isabel’ she thought to herself. “He’s a classmate of mine,” she said, satisfied with that answer, “we go to high school together. I see him around sometimes.”

_Perfect. Nailed it. Great job, Izzy._

Not the whole truth, but as she looked back up at him, Chat seemed fascinated, grinning toothy as he leaned forward slightly in her direction. The light caught his hair for a moment, turning it roughly the same shade as the setting sun, and Isabel was briefly reminded with an amused thought of another red haired friend of hers.  
She smiled to herself, Mayview certainly had an affliction for boys with crimson hair dye.

And to think he calls _her_ red.

Chat Noir opened his mouth, probably for a remark on the fact that she admitted to going to Mayview’s local high school, but was cut off as a mild-toned beeping cut through the air. He settled for a disappointed smile.

“S‘yer queue, then?” he said, referring to the time on her earrings. Ladybug nodded in response. “Race ya home? Won’t be able to tell who wins, but I’ll bet he’s me.”

Lighthearted banter was common between them. It was a fun way to pass the time, and as her friend stood up and extended a hand with a smile, Isabel took one last look at the crows that were now flying out of view.

She took his hand, and he helped her to her feet while the beeping from her earrings grew slightly faster. She didn’t yet move her hand away, when you’re crime-fighting partners with somebody, you grow used to casual touches. Or well, you almost have to, considering you’re both thrown into buildings together. But she enjoyed them.

“Not if you trip over your own ego there, it’ll give you a late start.” She teased, watching as Chat made a move as if he were wounded, before bringing her hand up and kissing it softly. She placed a good-natured punch on his shoulder in response.

“On three?” she asked, grabbing for her yo-yo and scanning for a good vantage point to leap to. Chat nodded, and began the countdown.

“One-“

“ _Three!_ ” Ladybug shouted gleefully, laughing as she took a running jump off the mini malls’ rooftop. She took one glance back at her partner and stuck her tongue out as he realized she’d given herself a cheap start. It took a moment, but he sputtered in a similar laughter and took off in his own direction, yelling something her way about cheating.

**Author's Note:**

> :3c !!!!!! 
> 
> i hope y'all enjoyed; i dont write much so i'm not sure how it came out


End file.
